NETFLIX AND CHILL

‘I definitely work too much, so I try to change my focus... and that’s watching Modern Family’

WITH their spanking new stadium and a much-vaunted analytical approach to the game, Brentford are very much football’s Modern Family.

So it’s perhaps unsurprising to hear the US sitcom is head coach Thomas Frank’s go-to show on the rare occasions he finds himself in front of the telly.

“I really try to be better and better in terms of relaxing,” said Frank. “I’m not that good at it and I definitely work too much.

“I need my sleep, so I always get between seven and eight hours, and I run three times a week to keep my fitness relatively good.

“Then I try to change my focus with Netflix, which is only something I’ve done a little bit more of in recent years, but definitely not enough.

“I really love Modern Family, because it makes me laugh and cry a bit, because I have children as well.

“I ’ ve also been watching Peaky Blinders, which gives you a little feeling of English culture, and Vikings, of course, from Denmark.” This Norseman’s personality couldn’t be more at odds with the Lothbroks

Bees old BoY Brentford lost Ollie Watkins of Vikings or the Shelbys of Peaky Blinders, but his measured manner clearly resonates with his players at Brentford.

He led them to 11th in 2018-19 after stepping up when Dean Smith left in October 2018, and last season took them to the play-off final, which they lost to Fulham.

“It’s something that, no matter what happens in the future, you will never forget it because it is such a remarkable situation,” Frank added. “It’s all or nothing.

“But it’s also in the past and we cannot do anything about it so we must quickly move forward.

“We know we have a good squad and we knew most of the players would stay and fight and compete.

“It’s all about what we can affect, and that is now today and tomorrow, so that’s what we are working very hard to try to do.”

Not only did Frank, who came through the ranks as a Denmark age group coach before joining Brondby and then Brentford, have to lift his team this summer, he also had to replace key men Said Benrahma and

THINK OF A NUMBER Thomas Frank is a big fan of football stats

Ollie Watkins, and contend with a stadium move as well.

“I’m fairly happy, never completely happy,” said Frank, when asked about their start to this campaign.

“Even if we had won 11 games, if I know myself well I’d still look into the performances and see things we could do better.

“As for moving into our new stadium, it was a massive upgrade and something we looked forward to. We miss Griffin Park but that’s a place we will go back to and think about and remember.

Brentford’s analytical approach sits neatly with Frank, who has a Masters degree in psychology, although he insists the game can never be about numbers alone.

He added: “I have always been interested in the statistics behind football and the numbers.

“In the last few years there has been more and more data on each game, and I think, ‘How can we use these numbers?’ So, yes, we have data and I like that, but if I don’t like what I see with my eyes then we don’t take the player.”